updated 01:25 pm EDT, Mon June 2, 2014

Gets iOS-inspired makeover

At today's WWDC keynote Apple today unveiled OS X Yosemite, the next edition of its Mac operating system. The OS borrows some design cues from iOS, for instance using flat icons and buttons, and translucent windows and docks. It also incorporates a new dark mode, making it better to use at night.

The Notification Center now has an iOS-style "Today" view, which can be further customized with widgets from a variety of apps. Search has been made quick to launch, and expanded to cover a wide range of sources, including not just local content but information from places like Contacts, Maps, and the web, and functions like unit conversions.

Native apps like Calendar, Mail,and Messages have been given makeovers. One addition is iCloud Drive, which lets people see all app folders, including apps a person doesn't have a Mac equivalent for. Files can be dragged in Dropbox-style and will sync across devices, including Windows.

One major addition is Continuity, which lets someone transfer work from a Mac to an iOS device, or vice versa, with proximity awareness. Some extensions of this idea are the relaying of non-iMessage phone texts to other devices via iMessage, and automatic Wi-Fi hotspot sync between Mac and iOS. iPhone calls can now be routed or dialed through a Mac with the benefit of caller ID. The technology works so long as an iPhone is on the same Wi-Fi network as a Mac.

Yosemite is due to launch sometime this fall, and like Mavericks will be a free update. Beta signups begin today, but are limited to the first million participants.

And who asked for all this 'flat' icons and windows? Just because everyone else is doing it doesn't make it a good idea! Heck, half the internet sites out there look like crap now, what with large text, lots of white space, big graphics.

Oh joy! because we see how much the users love the 'continuity' that Windows 8 offers everyone!

Windows offers no such thing, except in name.

In fact, one of the big questions is why Apple is the first to go about this in sigh a way, when it's something one would have expected from Microsoft and their "Windows Everywhere" slogan. I guess they were focusing on turning everything into one big unified mess, rather than keeping clear separation but making it work seamlessly together.